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Shelter need expected to grow

Church-based program can serve 21 homeless people in cold weather.

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12:19 AM Friday, December 30, 2011

By Rick McCrabb

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — The coordinator of a church-based homeless program said he was surprised by the low turnout the first week, but he expects the demand to increase in the coming weeks.

Roy Ickes — who along with his wife, Pat — coordinates Serving the Homeless with Alternate Lodging Of Middletown (SHALOM), said five homeless people participated in the program on the first night.

“We were puzzled,” he said of the initial response. Since then, the number has grown to nine, he said. SHALOM has a capacity of 21, he said.

Ickes said homelessness will continue to rise in the area until the economy turns around and the job market improves. Right now, he said the need for homeless services is “overwhelming,” a feeling expressed by homeless advocates around the county and the state.

For the ninth year, SHALOM is offering shelter, food and transportation for 13 weeks to the city’s homeless during the coldest months of the month.

SHALOM came into existence to offer food and lodging to the homeless of Middletown at a time when it was feared that the city’s only homeless shelter, Hope House, would close. Hope House never closed, and SHALOM has continued operating since 2003.

Each week on a rotating basis, a church in the network provides meals and shelter within their church facilities.

The in-take process begins at 4 p.m. every day at First United Methodist Church, 120 S. Broad St. During the process, applicants are interviewed, and a background check is completed.

The van leaves the church at 5 p.m. and takes the homeless to an area church.

They have an opportunity to shower before dinner, and them relax after dinner in a safe warm environment, Ickes said.

The homeless are fed breakfast then returned to First United Methodist Church at 7 a.m. If the temperature is 15 degrees or colder, the homeless are allowed to stay at the church, Ickes said.

Every Wednesday, the homeless can do their laundry for free at Express Laundry, 2500 Atco Ave.

Ickes said social workers meet weekly to interview and advise each guest on how to apply for assistance that might empower them to become self-sufficient. This assistance may be in the form of medical care, food stamps, clothing, employment or housing, he said.

The program is operated by 250 volunteers who served 3,300 meals to the homeless last year. The other SHALOM staff members are Bill Fugate, Mark Lintner and Walker Williamson.

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